Transocean wrote in a heavily redacted "supplemental answer and affirmative defenses" that "BP's fraud was the proximate, intervening and superseding cause of the well continuing to flow until mid-July 2010. BP's misrepresentation and concealment of material information about the flow rate caused source control decision-makers to approve proceeding with the top kill over the BOP-on-BOP strategy in mid-May 2010. Because of that, a well that could have been capped in early May 2010 emitted tens of thousands of barrels per day for another two months causing significant environmental pollution."

But Zuegma, weren't these three professional and ethical icons of the Drilling Industry acting in the safest and most expeditious manner possible with their billions in resources? Imagine if BP, Halliburton, and Transocean can mess up in such grand fashion, what must happen every day with the lowly drilling firms performing horizontal hydraulic fracturing in every nook and cranny possible in the U.S.!

Guess what, the Federal Government, BP, Transocean and Halliburton all share key responsibilities in that fiasco!The Feds because they should never have authorised the (temporary - which can take years) abandonment of the well with only the drilling mud instead of the standard cement column (that is an absolute no no and non-SOP);BP as owner is "ad hoc" responsible;Transocean failed in insuring/testing (on a regular basis) the sea bottom and rig BOPs (Blow Out Preventer stacks with inoperative shear rams)and ignoring the high gas content of the drilling mud;Halliburton for improper cementation of the well's casings, non reporting of the gas cut mud and withholding of the AOF (Actual Open Flow potential initial test results they performed).As to potential loss rate of 82,000 to 100,000 B/D: there isn't a single well in the entire Gulf's history capable of such a production level. BP's initial submission of a 1,000 to 5,000 B/D is well within the normal "good well" production rate of 2,500 to 3,000 B/D. Nevertheless, they still own the fiasco.